The Disproportionate Incarceration Of African American...

The Disproportionate Incarceration of African American Males The United States currently has the highest incarcerated population in the world with 2.2 million adults incarcerated in 2014 (Kaeble, Glaze, Tsoutis, Minton, 2016). African American males represent a disproportionate amount of the incarcerated population, which is defined by those confined in either prison or jail (Crutchfield Weeks, 2015). Although, African-Americans account for roughly 13% of the United States population, they comprised 37% of the male prison population (Carson, 2015; U.S. Census Bureau, 2016) and 35.4% of the male jail population within the United States in 2014 (Minton Zeng, 2015). The imprisonment of over 750,000 African American males constitutes a social issue because it targets a historically oppressed minority causing rippling social and economic effects throughout the country. Vulnerability to Incarceration Within African American communities, individuals with low incomes or low education levels are at increased risk of incarceration due to less options for legal employment and little resources to successfully navigate the legal system (Crutchfield and Weeks, 2015; Mtichell Caudy, 2015; Pettit Western, 2004). Although the incarceration of black people is an international issue (Warde, 2013) which affects both men and women (Christian Thomas, 2009), the substantial size of the African American male incarcerated population within the United States suggest that this aShow MoreRelatedThe Sentencing Of African Americans1626 Words   |  7 Pages African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated; that is 60% of 30% of the African American population. 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